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Samsung Saw Death of Apple’s Jobs as a Time to Attack

In October 2011, while many people around the world mourned the death of Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, Samsung executives saw the perfect opportunity to attack the iPhone.

Samsung’s deliberations about targeting Apple surfaced in an email exchange that Apple lawyers presented as evidence at the patent trial between the two companies, which opened two weeks ago.

In the emails, some top Samsung executives discussed how best to pit Samsung’s phones against the iPhone. Michael Pennington, then Samsung’s vice president for sales operations at its American division, notes the death of Mr. Jobs was serving as positive press for Apple, portraying the iPhone as a superior product made by a visionary.

“Unfortunately, Steve Job’s passing has led to a huge wave of press coverage of Apple’s and iPhone’s ‘superiority’, all created by the, ‘passionate, tireless, perfectionist…’ The point here is the there is an unintended benefit for Apple, since the external messages by 3rd parties are all highlighting and/or supporting the consumer perception that Apple products are superior, since Jobs’ was such a visionary and perfectionist. What consumer wouldn’t feel great about purchasing a device developed by such a person.”

The emails reflect the aggression that Samsung embraces to be a market leader. The exchange also illuminates Samsung’s initial hesitation to go after Apple, since Apple was one of its largest customers for chips and other components. Mr. Pennington writes about seeking help from Google so that Samsung could perhaps attack Apple invisibly.

He wrote:

“As you have shared previously, we are unable to battle them directly in our marketing. If it continues to be Samsung’s position to avoid attacking Apple due to their status as a large customer, can we go to Google and ask them to launch a campaign against Apple, based on the many better Android options available in the market for Q4.

“Many customers have been waiting to upgrade to the new version, so timing is critical. Now that Apple is potentially disappointing their loyal customer base, we must communicate the numerous better options available.”

Dale Sohn, who was then the Samsung executive in charge of its phone business, replied: “Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. We need to take advantage of this chance.”

Apple lawyers presented the evidence to try to corroborate its argument that Samsung specifically plotted to beat Apple by copying its products. In their testimonies, Samsung executives have said their motivations were more general: to beat every company, including Apple, HTC and BlackBerry, to become No. 1.

The exchange also illustrates that Apple’s lawsuit with Samsung may not truly be a fight between just two companies. Google, the provider of Android, is lurking in the background.

Correction: April 16, 2014An earlier version of this post arranged incorrectly the order of an email exchange between two Samsung executives. Dale Sohn, the former Samsung mobile chief, responded to an email about collaborating with Google, not an email about Steven P. Jobs's death.